Bears make it eight-straight with win over Harvard

Saturday, October 9

Providence, R.I.

5:00 PM

Brown University

12-3,5-0Ivy League

Harvard

6-8,3-2Ivy League

Harvard

Brown

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Bears make it eight-straight with win over Harvard

10/9/2021 8:18:00 PM | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - Brown volleyball overcame a slow start to beat Harvard in four sets. The Bears earned their eighth-straight win and remain undefeated at 5-0 in Ivy League play.

Sophia Miller dominated for Brown's offense with 20 kills on a .316 hitting percentage, reaching 20 kills for the second time this season. Beau Vanderlaan hit. 542 and tallied 13 kills, matching her second-highest total of the season. Kate Sheire was the third Bear to finish with at least 10 kills, added 12.

Cierra Miller led the way for the offense with 46 assists and tallied a double-double, adding 14 digs, the second-most on the team.

On defense, Victoria Vo led the team with 19 digs and Kaitlyn Wong added 11 as the Bears finished with 62 digs to just 50 for Harvard. Brown finished the game with six blocks with Vanderlaan, Gabby Derrick and Jenkins all having three blocks.

The service game was a big point for Brown as the Bears finished with a season-high 11 service aces. Both Jenkins and Kayla Griebl had three aces and Vo and Kristin Sellers finished with two. When the team didn't pick up an ace on their serve, quality serving led to out of sync offense for the Crimson.

"We talk about serving as a part of our offense," said head coach Ahen Kim. "When we were putting it in and tough, our mentality is to make them uncomfortable. In set one we weren't serving well and Harvard is a good team and took advantage of that. To make the serving adjustments shows a lot of maturity and grit and I am proud of our team for that."

After dropping the first set, 25-20, the Bears fell behind by five multiple times with Harvard taking a 16-11 lead at one point. Vanderlaan picked up a kill and Griebl posted back-to-back aces to pull Brown within two. Harvard added a point but a kill by Miller, ace from Sellers and block by the duo of Derrick and Miller tied the set at 18.

The Crimson broke the run by Derrick followed with a kill. An ace by Jenkins gave Brown the 19-18 lead and Griebl's kill put Brown up two. After Harvard tied the set at 21, kills from Griebl, Vanderlaan and Sheire gave Brown set point. Vo followed with an ace to knot up the match.

Set two began with Brown taking an early lead. A block by Vanderlaan and Jenkins plus a kill from Vanderlaan put Brown up 10-6. Miller would score three-straight points for Brown as the lead remained at 15-11. The Crimson picked up two points but Brown scored 10 of the next 11 points. Vanderlaan finished with three kills and teamed with Jenkins for a set-ending block, putting the Bears up 2-1.

With Harvard up 5-4, Brown ripped of five-straight points, including three kills from Miller to jump ahead 9-5. Kills by Vanderlaan and Miller and a block by Derrick and Jenkins increased the lead to 12-6 and after another 5-1 run, the Bears were up 17-9. Kills by Jenkins, Derrick and Miller gave Brown match point at 24-15. Harvard fought off four match points but Miller stopped the rally with a kill to give the Bears the win.

After four matches at home, Brown will now hit the road for its next two matches. The Bears will play at Penn on Friday, Oct. 15 before traveling to Princeton for a matchup against the Tigers on Saturday (Oct. 16).